Openly derisive of the madness of the manosphere, Genesis Owusu’s heavy-handed lyricism leaves no doubt to his opinions on the men who just want to watch the world burn on “DEATH CULT ZOMBIE.”

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Stream: “DEATH CULT ZOMBIE” – Genesis Owusu

Since his debut in 2021, Genesis Owusu’s diverse blend of sounds has energised and challenged listeners.

He’s somewhere in between a punk rocker, a soulful singer and a rapper, defying easy genre classification and finding his groove with a brash honesty. The second single from Genesis Owusu in as many months, and aptly released on Halloween through OURNESS Records, “DEATH CULT ZOMBIE” cuts a keener furrow than “PIRATE RADIO,” his more electronically focused previous release. Both tunes share a lively vitality which will only add fuel to the fire of Owusu’s famously raucous live performances.

Underpinned by a pounding bass line, this track is a harsh punk banger, with elements of NYC indie rock, and the choppiest guitar chords this side of Islington in 2007. It’s rough, bold, and strictly for the mosh-pitters. It’s this meshing of similar but disparate styles that makes the sound at once unique and strikingly familiar, a balance Owusu achieves with characteristic vigour. A stand-out element is how Owusu uses his voice as a rhythmic instrument, spitting lyrics percussively and dropping into animal noises in places. The pure simmering energy, like heat rising from asphalt, is what drives “DEATH CULT ZOMBIE,” and makes it such an irresistible listen. You’d be hard pressed to forget the repeated chanting of the song’s title, a hook as pleasant as it is primal.

“Fear in your flesh,
you so scared to be replaced
Think you a future billionaire,
but your future’s being erased”

Leveling his ire at the vapid culture of incels and the wider alt-right, Owusu spares himself the humility of attempting to debate the impotent hate he sees, and merely insults his targets. It’s not about showing how bad they are or how he’s morally superior. He’s just mocking them, because that’s all they deserve. This is not Rage Against The Machine, there is no eloquent polemic or call to action. Owusu holds his anger and looks it in the eye, he treats it as an asset.

On “DEATH CULT ZOMBIE,” Owusu dismisses the useless bluster of so many so-called alpha males out of hand.

By his reckoning, they have taken over the world, but are so miserable with themselves that they seek to destroy it, rather than improve it. Owusu’s words for them are caustic and coated in sarcasm. They are expressed with a wry smile and a lack of tact. He is riling them up and baiting them to pull the trigger – Because he knows they’d never dare.

“That hobo look like Jesus
but you spit on his wit
You treat your Bible like a weapon,
you ain’t reading that shit”

“For most people, the shaking up of what they consider to be true is too scary and inconvenient,” Owusu shared upon his song’s release. “Once you’ve picked your truth, you live by it staunchly despite whatever pesky ‘facts’ and ‘logic’ get in the way. Pride won’t let you be wrong, fear won’t let you be free, dogma won’t let you be aware. The delusion is more comfortable. But the longer you sit in that delusion, the faster the zombification spreads through your body like a plague; like a scourge. Gotta be brave enough to break from the cult.”

“DEATH CULT ZOMBIE” is an out-and-out bop, a song that doesn’t bury itself in dense melodic layers, opting for an uncomplicated construction.

Simplicity is the key: Owusu chooses to strip away the trappings of some of his more complex pieces to focus on the words, and the emotion behind them. As he throws out barbs against Klansmen, the “master race” and some very famous and notorious figures, his disgust is palpable. We are certainly living in testing times, with some terrifying global agendas at play. Somehow, Owusu is capable of writing and performing in the face of such madness.

“Death cult zombie, feed on your mind
He say jump, you ‘ready falling in line
Death cult zombie, think too hard and you bleed
Come and get me, I won’t live on my knees”

There’s no solution here, no happy ending. We’re very much living day-to-day in 2025, it feels like there’s an international catastrophe every week, and that’s why “DEATH CULT ZOMBIE” is so adroit, it’s descriptive of how a lot of people are dealing with the onslaught of contemporary life. You can’t reason with it or try to change it, because it’s happening right now, and it’s happening on your doorstep. All you can do is call it what it is and fight back in the moment.

There are people in this world that seek to reduce everything to dust, and Genesis Owusu is pointing and laughing at them as they skulk by – which seems like the only sane way to act at this point.

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